Aging in lithium-ion batteries for automotive and energy applications. Methods, structural changes and mechanisms

Lithium-ion batteries LIBs used in electric vehicles must get better: they must attain higher capacity and must retain that capacity longer.

Aging during operation is related to the creation of unwanted chemical/material environments for the ions that are cyclically redistributed during its charge/discharge.

To counteract aging, we must understand better the chemical/material changes that take part during extended battery operation.

We want to develop innovative characterization techniques tailored to meet industrial needs and to apply them in studying degradation mechanisms of various types of commercial batteries.

The proposed way for characterization relies on NMR spectroscopy that can directly and quantitatively detect the distribution of lithium ions among different environments.

A successful implementation of this project will promote understanding of aging in different types of LIBs under both laboratory and real-life conditions and aid innovation towards better batteries.